DEBATE PREP: QUESTIONS FOR OBAMA, ROMNEY — For moderator Bob Schieffer, the key to success in tonight’s foreign policy debate will be keeping the candidates on topic with questions that don’t lend themselves to sloganeering or talking points. And on the defense budget, both candidates owe voters some straight talk.

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President Barack Obama has said he’s willing to play hardball with Republicans over sequestration. But is he really prepared to carry out cuts that his own defense secretary has called devastating? Meanwhile, the Romney camp has said Romney would peg the base defense budget at 4 percent of GDP — a plan that could lead to trillions of dollars in new spending over the coming decade. With the war in Iraq over and the war in Afghanistan set to wind down, how will he justify to voters why the Pentagon should spend as much or more going forward as it spent at the peak of both conflicts?

Morning D teamed up with Leigh to write national security and foreign policy questions that could yield off-script answers from Obama and Romney — and maybe even get them to say something new. Here’s our list, including questions on Afghanistan and Libya, for Pros: http://politico.pro/WZNAH0

EXPECTATIONS LOW FOR POLICY DETAILS — Tonight’s debate offers the biggest stage yet for the presidential candidates to dive into foreign policy issues — just don’t expect them to go very deep. “Fundamentally, people are not looking for little details,” says Danielle Pletka, vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “They don’t want to know who likes [Syrian President Bashar al] Assad more, or what the name of the group was in Libya that was involved [with the Benghazi attack.] They want to see that the president and the wannabe president are showing a vision.” Leigh has the story, also for Pros: http://politico.pro/OVF4Xr

HAPPY MONDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we’ll be watching the debate and counting the number of times Obama says “bin Laden” and Romney says “Bibi.” Keep the tips, pitches and feedback coming to awright@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @ morningdefense, @ abwrig and @ POLITICOPro.

TOP TALKER: ‘ROMNEY’S TOUGHEST DEBATE,’ by POLITICO’s Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen — “Mitt Romney has a clear-eyed and self-aware view of his chances in the final debate Monday, according to top advisers: It will be almost impossible to win, since the debate is focused exclusively on foreign policy, a strength for President Barack Obama. This view isn’t merely about expectations-setting. Romney’s top advisers authentically worry that the swing voters they need to woo care little about foreign affairs right now. And, even if they did, the differences between the two men on many of the highest-profile issues — ending the Afghan war and the bloodshed in Syria — are too slight to draw sharp distinctions.” http://politi.co/OVs30c

TRIVIA TIME — On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear weapons on Cuba, making public a standoff now known as the Cuban missile crisis. What type of U.S. aircraft had discovered the Soviet missile sites on Cuba? For the answer, read on.

BOTH SIDES DENY U.S.-IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS -- The White House and a top Iranian official are denying a report in The New York Times that the two countries have agreed to hold “one-on-one negotiations” over the country’s nuclear program. “It’s not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections,” White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement to The Christian Science Monitor. “We continue to work with the P5+1 on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally.” Here’s CSM’s story on the denials: http://bit.ly/TC0qGc. And here’s the original NYT story: http://nyti.ms/TLJGMZ

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ISSA DEFENDS DOCUMENT DUMP — Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, fired back yesterday at Democrats who accused him of endangering Libyans who had worked with the State Department and whose names were listed in unclassified documents released by the committee. “The State Department has had these documents for two weeks but never contacted the committee about making specific redactions,” Issa said in a statement. “The Libyans noted in these documents worked in positions where their interactions with Westerners would not be surprising.” POLITICO’s Seung Min Kim has more: http://politi.co/TakenO

Over the weekend, several top congressional Democrats, along with Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod, blasted Issa for releasing the documents without redacting names. “This is irresponsible and inexcusable, and perhaps worst of all it was entirely avoidable,” Sen. John Kerry said in a statement. SASC Chairman Carl Levin added: “While I don’t see how Congressman Issa’s obvious attempts to make political hay out of this tragedy will succeed in advancing his partisan goals, what is clear is that the reckless release of the names of Libyans who have worked with us could jeopardize the lives of those individuals and damage U.S. interests.”

AUSA: THE SHOW GOES ON — The Army trade show kicks off today at the Washington Convention Center, with speeches by Army Secretary John McHugh, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler and other top commanders. The big question: Will the government’s new travel restrictions, put in place because of the GSA scandal earlier this year, cause low turnout at AUSA? “The exhibits are being scaled back, but there will still be an Army main pavilion exhibit, where the Army’s story will be told,” Roger Thompson, AUSA’s vice president for membership and meetings, tells Vago Muradian of Defense News. More here: http://bit.ly/TC1wlo

POLL: JOBS THE TOP ISSUE FOR MILITARY -- POLITICO’s Kevin Cirilli breaks down a new poll by the group Concerned Veterans for America: “Military voters ranked unemployment as the biggest issue facing them and their families, with 28 percent saying finding jobs after service is the biggest issue. That’s 10 percentage points more than the second biggest issue: accessing care for service-related injuries (18 percent). The remainder stated other options, including deployment pressures and cuts to the forces and transition assistance. And 29 percent of military voters polled think the country is headed in the right direction. Among veterans, that percentage shrinks to 25 percent.” More here: http://politi.co/WCXr6W

SPORTS BLINK — Navy QB Keenan Reynolds snagged a 31-30 win for the Midshipmen over Indiana thanks to a four-yard touchdown pass with just 2:02 left on the clock. The win gives Navy its first victory over a Big Ten opponent since 1979. Meanwhile, Air Force topped New Mexico 28-23 after a late-game drive by the Lobos was halted on fourth down by Falcons linebacker Alex Means. Meanwhile, the Army lost 48-38 to Eastern Michigan, and the Coast Guard pulled off a 31-28 win over Worcester State.

TRIVIA ANSWER — U-2 spy planes discovered the Soviet missile sites in Cuba, leading to the Cuban missile crisis. From the History channel website:

“President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval quarantine and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. On the night of October 22, Kennedy went on national television to announce his decision. During the next six days, the crisis escalated to a breaking point as the world tottered on the brink of nuclear war between the two superpowers.” http://bit.ly/RQrFx2

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Authors:

About The Author

Austin Wright is a senior defense reporter based at the Pentagon covering budget, policy and national security issues. He has been with POLITICO since 2011 and was previously a web producer and author of the widely read newsletter Morning Defense.

Before POLITICO, Wright worked for National Defense magazine, interned at The Chronicle of Higher Education and taught sixth-grade English at Kramer Middle School in Washington.

Wright hails from Richmond, Va., and graduated in 2009 from the College of William and Mary, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Flat Hat. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Leanne, and their dog, Kernel.